Edward Abbey would be proud

The Desert. yes, Desert spelled with a capital 'D'. Because it deserves such respect. i have a new, healthy respect for the desert b/c the last 5 days i have spent more time than i like to think there. last weekend i went down to zion nat'l park to do a little canyoneering. except that it was a lot of canyoneering. 9 miles of canyoneering to be exact. and i loved it. and i disliked part of it too. first of all, it is flaming hot in zion right now. oh, say, about the 110's. hot. HOT. hotter than i was in canyonlands in may. which was really hot then. even the breeze at night was hot in zion. like 95 degrees hot. so we camped out with a few friends (well, try 8 other people) and saturday morning we woke bright and early to do a hike called 'the subway'. many people have heard of the zion narrows. this is a long hike (16 miles) that is rarely done in its entirety, but invovles a narrow slot canyon with steep walls that people can walk inbetween. the subway is better than that though. it requires a permit to hike the subway. and only 40 people are allowed in its canyons on the weekends. i was one of the lucky 40 last weekend. and the freinds i went with had tried the subway lottery system 3 years ina row to get the permit. so i felt pretty lucky. it was beautiful. we hiked through what felt like california, only it was utah. and then we went down down down into this itty bitty slow canyon filled with water most of the time. and the water was cold cold cold. like take your breath away and try to swim as fast as you can even in 110 degree heat cold. mostly it was a hike through knee to thigh to ankle deep water, but for a couple of hundred feet we actually had to swim-= yes we couldn ot touch the bottom! it was fantastic, amazing- not enough cool words to describe it. i have some really great pics. but i have to wait until we get internet into the new house to post those. itw as one of hte best hikes i've ever done. it was nice and cool down in the canyon and walking through the water was so much fun. plus it was with some really great friends and we just had good times all around. we camped again that night, and we were all very sore and tired. and camping did not feel good b/c the ground was hard and again, you guessed it, it was hot. the breeze was hot. i was happy to ge thome to my bed and the coolness of our shaded new house. it was one great trip. i'd do it again in a heart beat, except that it'd be so hard to get the permit. the hike out of the canyon wasn't so pleasant however. still great scenery, but it was really long and we didn't know when we were supposed to be cutting up out of the canyon so it was mentally taxing. when you are hiking and you do'ntknow the end point you begin to wonder with eveyr step where the end is and when you will get there and why int he world did you ever start this hike in the first place and where is the car etc etc. we finally found the turn up hill and hiked straight up hill for about a quarter of a mile. i'd like to say that that was the end of my desert fun, but i got home sunday night, slept a good nights sleep and then monday morning i struck out again.

coby, my climbing partner, and i decided we wanted to climb this really remote alpine wall back in the wasatch range. it is called lone peak. and it is beautiful. it looks like patagonia, pure granite spires. but for my friends who don't climb, that woulnd't really mean too much. basically, it is one of the most breathtaking, beautiful places i can imagine to climb. and it is remote. very remote. well, we started off monday morning landen down with packs weighing at least 40 lbs. and that's b/c not only did we have to carry a tent, sleeping bag, food, etc for camping, we also had to carry rope, a climbing rack (that is our protection devices for the climb itself), shoes, harnesses, etc. it was heavy. the heaviest pack i've ever carried. and it hurt. well we'd heard the approach (the hike to the wall) was bad, but i never thought it'd be this bad. it was horrific. i don't have words to describe how bad it was. and the worst part is, we weren't on the exact right trail, and what usually takes ppl 6 hours took us 9 and we didn't get to climb at all in the end.!!! what a bummer. we hiked straight up hill for 7 hours, it was the worse pain i've ever endured. and then we found this great meadow, called hamongog- german for meadow. but they are all called hamongogs in the wasatch. i guess that's b/c it sounds a lot cooler. so we found this beautiful hamongog and called it a night and struck camp. we found a really nifty outlaw cabin up there too, which come to find out once saved a family's life froma terrible blizzard. but that's beside the point b/c it did not save my knees or calf muscles or back from our terrible hike. we got up tuesday morning and decided we were going to find that cirque (mountain circle) if it took all we had. we hiked up more and more and more and finally came out exactly across form the wall we wanted to be at the base of. and ther ewas ahuge snow covered bowl between us and it, and a big cliff, and a bunch of boulders and too much more hiking. we came up the wrong canyon. we had taken the wrong trial. and we didn't get to climb. all that pain and no climbing. well, we started back down our stupid trial and i thought it had been bad on the way up. it was nothing campred to the way down. my knees felt like they were being operated on without being put to sleep. i wanted a total knee replacement when we got down. which i thought was never going to happen. we hiked down for 5 hours. now, you tell me that that trail was only 6 miles long. ha! no way. i can hike down hill at a pace of at least, the mimimum 2 miles an hour. that would put it at a minimum of 8 miles in. but i think it was more like 10. and added to that, we gained 6,000 feet of elevation gain at that. that is 1000 feet per mile if it was 6 miles. and that's like alaska straight up hill. and straight down hill. so, at the top of the mountain the temperature was pleaseant. enjyable even. but at hte bottom, for the last half of the hike, we were gain in desert. sage, scrubs, dirt, and heat that radiated off the groun and bounced on your face till you were dripping in sweat. and i was dripping in this anti-humid environment.

so hopefully i have discouraged any one from wanting to climb beautiful granite spires far far away. the even sadder thing is, coby and i are planning on going back in the next 2 weeks. now that we've seen the cirque, it's all we can do to not think about it all the time. it's awe inspiring. one of God's best moments in modest utah anyway. and despite all that heart ache and leg ache and back ache, it's worth doing the hike again. i can't wait to post pictures from the top. i've got a few from our horrible hike, one in particualr taken right afterward that i will post when we get the internet up. it's funny. we look awful and it's great. today my calves hurt worse than ever before. and i've been dead tired. we didn't have enough calories in food with us to do that kind of hike and face that mental anguish. we didn't know where we were exactly and how long the hike was and that wears on your mind more than your body. that is what is more exhausting that the physical aspect of hiking. still, i've never been so sore and tired before. and now i am doing a night shift. my body is just sacked! i'm ready to just sleep. a lot.

and now eric is gone. he went to arkansas for a reunion with his old bible study. it's so hard to have him gone. it's like missing a half of your life. nobody there to greet me when i get home early in the morning. nobody to make my side of the bed warm. nobody to eat dinner/breakfast with. nobody to have a hug. nobody to complain to about how much i hate night shift. nobody to just love on and be loved by. i guess we are still very much in that honeymoon phase. but i am certain deep down that eric and i will always bein that honeymoon phase. i don't ever want to have him leave me for trips and i hate leaving him for trips. it's a bitter sweet feeling. b/c you are happy that you or he is getting to experience something grand and fun. but at the same time you are doing it sans the other. and that makes the experience only half as grand or half as fun. it's so wonderful to be married!

i have been reading the princess bride. it's great. it's hilarious. anyone who enjooys the movie should read the book. only it's way different. but twice as funny. if you can believe that. it's actually the abridged version, not the same original by S. Morgenstern. Morgenstern actually wrote a terribly long novel as a political satire between Guilder and Florin back in the day. so this other guy, i can't remember his name, wrote an abridged version of the princess bride and took out all hte policital mumbo-jumbo and told just hte exciting part. i haven't been able to put it down b/c it's so great. defnitely recommended. i also started john krakaours (spelled that wrong sorry) book 'into the wild'. so far it's great. i really enjoy his books and his writing style.

the house. wow. i can't say enough good things about the house. i simply love it. i planted an herb garden last week and some mint behind the house. but my mint is dying b/c id doens't have enough sun light i think. it's sad b/c i love mint plants. an di love the clothes line. my towels and sheets smell so fresh and clean. hurray! and everything has a wonderful place in our basement with all the gear hanging up just so. it makes my heart happy to have a real house. an dmy oven actually works! the last oven was wack-o. i couldn't ever tell exactly what degree setting i was putting it at so all the food had different times than what the recipe suggested. htis oven rocks though and it's gas so it heats more evenly. enough about ovens. i am really happy and feel god has really blessed us and answered our prayers for ahouse.

june has been a really fun month. in fact, if i stop and think about it, every month since february has had a great trip, whether climbing or hiking, invovled and they have all been memorable. next month for our anniversary (eric was sjupposed to surprise me but with the move and all and needing to know what things to really pack an dwhat things to leave out he had to tell me where we were going) we are going to rocky mountain nat'l park for sme backpakcing, hopefully a sumit of long's peak, and then some climbing ona nearby mountain called Lumpy. nice name huh? i am way excited about that. and then in august we have a couple of friends from back home coming to visit (ben casey and brian hirschy) i can't wait to show them our play ground. seriously you guys, you all need to move to utah!! whohoo!!